Orange County Duplexes, Triplexes & Fourplexes

Orange County is one of the most expensive and most in demand multi-family markets in California. Duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes here sell for a pretty high price-per-unit and cap rates are usually a bit lower than most investors like to see. The trade-off you get for that lesser cap rate is very strong tenant demand, a pool of high-income tenants and appreciation due to little new supply.

Orange County is kind of two different areas in one. There's the coastal submarkets like Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, San Clemente and Dana Point where prices are higher and cap rates are lower. However appreciation is higher near the coast, and you can more easily generate short-term rental income if you choose to go that route.

Then there's the inland part of the county which is home to Anaheim, Fullerton, Buena Park, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Westminster. Those areas offer better price-per-unit and cash-flow, and you can also find more older 1960s and 1970s properties there that haven't been renovated yet so you can build sweat equity. That's a lot harder to find the closer you get to the beaches.

Investing in Orange County gets you away from LA's stringent rent control laws, but you'll still be subject o the California statewide rent caps under AB 1482. So be sure you're well versed on that and that it fits with your investment objectives. There are a lot of 5+ unit apartment buildings in Orange County too but you won't be able to get conventional mortgages on those and will need a commercial loan. A good broker who has multi-family experience can help guide you to those lenders.